Some lenders happy to switch from refis to purchase

by. Brian Collins

Refinancing has fallen off the cliff and the mortgage industry is bracing for a decline in originations. But some lenders are going against the grain and increasing their capacity.

Nationstar Mortgage has been investing in its origination platform and each loan officer closed nearly 20 loans in the second quarter, compared to nine loans in the first quarter.

“We are beginning to see some impact of the investments we have made,” Nationstar chief executive Jay Bray said last week.

The giant servicer has plenty of refinancing opportunities due to its $318 billion servicing portfolio.

However, the Lewisville, Texas, company is moving into the purchase mortgage space. And it has “increased incentives to drive more purchase money [originations] in our wholesale and correspondent channels,” Bray said.

Meanwhile, Redwood Trust, based in Mill Valley, Calif., has moved its operations to Denver to take advantage of the large pool of mortgage banking, underwriting and servicing talent as the mortgage REIT continues to grow.

Redwood expects to originate $8 billion in jumbo loans this year. But it wants to expand its capacity to do “much higher volumes,” an executive said during a conference call last week on the company’s second-quarter earnings.

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